Fukushima, Three Years Later

The photographer Jake Price left New York for Japan forty-eight hours after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, leading to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in 2011. “I was aware of how dangerous it would be. I just felt close to the story,” Price told me. He has spent three-and-a-half years documenting the disaster’s effects on the Tohoku region, the site of the power plant, and the worst effects of the earthquake and tsunami.

Price will present his work at the New York Film Festival this Sunday, exhibiting photographs of the region’s changing landscape as well as audio and video recordings. In abandoned towns near the power plant, “nature has taken over civilization,” Price said. “It’s beautiful but it’s a terrible shame, because it’s not a science experiment—it’s the result of abandoned lives, and it’s the consequence of a man-made disaster.” Price mentioned a photograph that shows domesticated plants competing for space with newer wild growth. “I wonder if the domesticated plants will perish or change to survive,” he said.